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Dream Launchers 

SPRING 2008

Shawn Raker and Jamail Larkins are inspiring dreams of aviation
in America’s youth and helping secure the industry’s future.

Article Content From

LIFT MAGAZINE

By Ashlee (Fiser) Ilg
Photos by Jason Fobart 

Click to View PDF

 

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Article Content From

PLANE & PILOT MAGAZINE
Jobs & Schools

Flight Training Services International
From zero time to airline cockpit in 14 months

BY RON FOWLER

 

Opportunities remain solid for qualified aviators who plan on careers as airline pilots. Though it’s true that major airlines have certainly cut back on hiring additional pilots for the moment, regional airlines are now hiring more new pilots than ever before.

New regional airline pilots who hope to join a major carrier, however, should plan on a timeframe of five to seven years before qualifying for such a slot. There are three reasons they can take heart in the likelihood that the major-airline job market will improve by then. First, the nation’s overall continuing growth will require more and more air travel. Second, the large group of baby-boomer pilots will soon be retiring. Third,military pilots will be unavailable because of longterm enlistment contracts. Regional airlines will then be the principle source of new hires.

Many of these efficiently managed regional carriers have grown to rival the size of some of the nation’s 16major airline companies. There are currently more than 30 regional airlines that produce from $100 million to $1 billion in annual revenue and fly jets serving routes across multiple regions. Additionally, there aremore than 100 smaller, fast-growing regionals. These typically fly turboprops on shorter routes, with many positioning themselves for bigger planes and longer routes.

Regional airlines, once thought of as only stepping stones, have become valid employers for long-termcareers. Entry pay for new regional-jet first officers has remained low: about $20 per hour, then moving up to about $35 within the second or third year. Once you become a junior captain, however, you’ll be making substantially more. Additionally, as an experienced junior captain, you’re positioned to join a major airline—that is, if you’re still interested in pursuing that route. Regional-jet junior captains push $75,000 flying the airplanes, routes and schedules of their choice; senior captains will pull in $100,000 or more. You may not want to give up your seniority for the major airline’s fresh number, which could make you subject to furlough. Today’s regional airlines can provide long-term career potential.

As your career potential is enhanced, so, too, is the quality of your training. Hiring managers for top regional airline companies expect new applicants to be jet-ready before beginning their initial airline training programs. All too often, however, many new hires haven’t been trained to bridge the wide gap between their flight-training environment and the realworld of airline piloting. Subsequently, a significant number of these aspiring professional pilots fail the airline’s initial pilot training and are dismissed fromtheir provisional employment.

Failure to pass an airline’s training program places new hires at a great disadvantage. First, they then have a Part 121 training failure entered on their FAA record. Second, they’re released from employment for performance reasons. Third, they must disclose these facts when applying to other airlines. Employability is then compromised. Therefore, when selecting a school, you need to determine the degree of success the school’s graduates achieve in their initial training with an airline. One school program you should certainly contact and consider is the Commercial Airline Pilot Training (CAPT) Program, owned by Flight Training Services International and located at Flagler County Airport in Palm Coast, Fla. Daytona Beach is just a half-hour drive to the south.

 

CAPT Program

FTS International’s CAPT Program is designed to take zero-time students (who are typically in their mid-20s to mid- 30s) from their first hour of flight to regional jet readiness in 12 to 14months of training. The program was conceived and designed by a team of major airline pilots, then further developed by Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University in 2002. FTS International acquired the entire program and facilities from Embry- Riddle in August 2006. Jamail Larkins, the school’s vice president, comments, “Then we made some slight modifications— modifications thatmade an already great program into just a tremendously great program.”

The training is highly structured, very challenging and professionally conducted. For example, each applicant undergoes a screening and selection process developed with airline guidance. The intent is to replicate screening used in the airline hiring process. It also helps to ensure that aspiring professional pilots will be working along serious, likeminded and capable classmates, together providing the synergy needed to motivate one another in a year of demanding study and action.

 

Training Equipment & Curriculum

Students who seek airline-level training are drawn by the program’s equipment and curriculum. Your basic pilot training for private, instrument, and commercial and multi-engine is conducted in brand-new Cirrus SR20 and Piper Seminole aircraft, all fitted with the latest glass-cockpit technology. FTDs used throughout your training reflect this technology. Instructors are all experienced CFII-MEIs who average 1,400 hours of instruction.

Toward the conclusion of their training, many students choose to take the program’s optional Upset Maneuvers Training. Here, they complete a threeday, five-mission course in which they fly the Extra 300L—an aircraft with no prohibited maneuvers.

Jet transport training occurs in the school’s Boeing MD-90EFD level D Full Flight Simulator. All simulator instructors are type-rated and average nearly 10,000 hours of airline experience.

Graduates leave FTS International’s CAPT Programwith commercial, instrument, multi-engine certificate and ratings; a firm grasp of airline standards, methodology and procedures;more than 600 hours of classroomacademics; abundant multi-engine and instrument time; Boeing MD-90 type ratings; and a passing grade on their FAA Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Dispatcher written examinations. They’re superbly qualified to meet the expectations of regional airline hiring managers and to be successful through any airline’s intense initial pilot training program.

For specific information on FTS International’s CAPT Program, or to arrange a visit, log on to www.captprogram.org, or call (877) 577-2278.

 

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